The 13 Best Albums of 2013 (Also, Goodbye, Glamour!)

Happy New Year, darlings! It is with a bucket o' tears that I write my last post for Glamour.com today. From my very first post reviewing Kimbra's debut album almost two springs ago, I've been honored to be your Obsessive music guru—giving you Morning Jams, exclusive interviews with up-and-coming artists, and playlists for holidays. Of my favorite moments? On my 25th birthday weekend, I ran around Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival in creepers and interviewed indie-scene darlings like Sky Ferreira and Charlift's Caroline Polachek. (I even covered a smaller music festival here in New York in bunny ears.)

I learned about Tegan & Sara's and Hayley Williams' backstage high jinks. I watched the legendary women of TLC make their first public appearance together in years—and got to meet them. The memories I've made here with all of you are truly unforgettable. And at Glamour, I'm so thankful to have been empowered by my editors to put my feminist roots to great use: writing and editing stories about strong women with powerful voices, women who boldly push the envelope to challenge static social norms, women who inspire. It's been an honor and a privilege Obsessin' over all these things together.

I'm moving on to another realm of fashion editing for my next gig, so, quick, tell me your shoe sizes so I can send gifts! But I can't just mic-drop y'all like that! Here were my 13 favorite albums—in no particular order of greatness—of 2013, 13 because why not. Be sure to click each album title link to buy on iTunes.

Living for the early-'90s R&B nostalgia vibes of Ms. Grande's debut. On Yours Truly, she's not only resuscitating Mariah Carey's dust-collecting wig, but she is wearing it with ombre colors, honey. (OK, ombre is over, but you get what I mean.) The sound throughout is magically Ariana's. The theater kid even gets a remake of "Popular," because she's that good.

__2. Chelsea Wolfe—[*Pain Is Beauty*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pain-is-beauty/id681692672)__
I first wrote about this dark priestess of genre-shattering pop in 2012, but she released an album this year that was even more unclassifiable. If nothing else, take *Pain Is Beauty'*s title literally: Ms. Wolfe spins the depths of her pain into something stunningly beautiful and something we can all relate to. The shy artist's most impressive feat in 2013 was having the bravery to show the many facets of her humanity, to show that it's OK to be right where you are, right now.
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The Pharrell-assisted "Get Lucky" was blasted in every fratty bar across America, but this album is bananas. Who saw the recent TRON composers coming back in astronaut helmets and chic suits? NO ONE. Just like no one saw that electric Julian Casablancas of the Strokes collabo coming either. "Instant Crush?" How about instantly clingy love affair with this album:

__4. Haim—[*Days Are Gone*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/days-are-gone/id681237313)__
This fun-loving California trio of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana (plus dreamy drummer boy Dash Hutton) are kinda like a New Age Jackson 5. They grew up playing and singing together, like always, and then had a million great songs and decided to release an album. So *Days Are Gone* was dropped on the world, and its palpable sweetness and obvious discipline—from its rock-solid song craft to the retro-sheen production—pretty much puts all our hopes and dreams to shame. Haim is living proof that practice makes perfect, kiddies.
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Not much to say about this former Degrassi heartthrob's latest except that it is the moody, soulful greatness we know and love from Drake times a million and that (one of) his partner-in-brooding/producer Noah "40" Shebib made some of this album's best tracks. There's the dark lushness of singers past—everyone knows Drake is obsessed with Aaliyah because she was/is amazing, duh—that really makes the album shine.

__6. Lorde—[*Pure Heroine*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pure-heroine/id703590196)__
"Yes, Lawd" a.k.a. "Yes, Lorde!" is exactly what I yelled while walking down Fifth Avenue and blasting this in my headphones for the first time. And like Drake, this 17-year-old prodigy who came from basically out of nowhere—actually, she's from New Zealand—can brood with the best of 'em. *Pure Heroine*'s effortless blend of electronic dark-pop and minimalist trip-hop relays Lorde's precocious diary prose on fantasy, societal pressures on women, and growing older like Lifetime's best yet-to-be-made TV biopic on Emily Dickinson. Lorde keeps things honest and all-the-way real.
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I once told Alexis Krauss that this album made me want to run five miles. Not to #humblebrag, but I swear I've clocked like 10 times that amount since Bitter Rivals dropped in October, off the strength of the Brooklyn duo's muscular yet accessible brand of noise-pop. *Bitter Rivals *is full of eye-of-the-tiger stadium anthems—likely born of the band's boxing workouts during the album's creation—and, unlike their past work, it focuses more on Alexis' vocals. She's cooing and trilling like an old-school Janet Jackson. Yes, girl.

__8. Tegan & Sara—[*Heartthrob*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heartthrob/id577319187)__
These sisters were a hit with you guys when I wrote about them! No wonder: *Heartthrob* is the industry vets' most incredible work to date, covering the gamut of obsession and love in and out of relationships with skill and ease. Plus, *Heartthrob* did Depeche Mode-era electro-pop better justice than anybody this year...
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I'll leave you with this from my interview with her: "You have be honest about where you are. Like when you're 15? What do you write about when you're 15 except how painful and awkward it is? What's changed the most is that I've just lived more. You can't really write if you don't have experience." Sums it up perfectly, Sky.

__10. Savages—[*Silence Yourself*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/silence-yourself/id614945667)__
This brazen London quartet's message is loud and clear on their debut manifesto (and oh-so-necessary in our image-obsessed world): If you want freedom from the world's confines, you've gotta shut up and *really* listen to what's happening around you. Once you've done that, go forth, and don't take any sh*t.
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Living for this album, its ballsy experimentation, those dancing teddy bears that I still want to wear IRL, Miley's "strategic" hot-messedness, and her feminism. (She recently said she wants women to know they can "do whatever the f&*k they want.") Bless.

__12. Britney Spears—[*Britney Jean*](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/britney-jean-deluxe-version/id736211015)__
Eff whatcha heard, haters: It's Britney, bitch, forever and always. I can't *not* give this woman some props. She's still around and cranking out the weirdest booty-jams of the 21st century till kingdom come. This album doesn't have the personal touch she was aiming for, ~~because that would probably be horrible for real~~, but "Work Bitch" is basically Brit's career/life thesis statement and should be a daily mantra for us all. Without struggle, there's no progress, like Frederick Douglass said, and Britney's real-life struggle is living proof of this truth.
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Ugh. Talk about a mic-drop. Goddess Beyowulf came like a thief in the night, but no matter. (Somewhere in the world at midnight on Friday, December 13, her competitors Ciara, Keri Hilson were actually considering themselves lucky. Then, nope.) She, her larger-than-life lion's mane, Baby Blue, and Jay, are chillin' on a beach somewhere in 2014, eating vegan (is that still happening?) cuisine, probably on Winners' Island. Music, incredible; videos, the fiercest. Whatta woman.

Sayonara, Glamour, and thanks for the memories! Like we used to write each other in high-school yearbooks: "Stay cool & crazy & fab. Don't eva change. Llys! Ttyl!" And if you want, you should totes keep up with me on Twitter: @Mickey_Darling, and Instagram: @mickeydarling